The solder joints of microelectronic packages most often fail at the package comers when placed under mechanical stresses such as shock, vibration, or drop tests. Such failures may compromise the reliability of microelectronic packages. Current methods to solve solder joint failure at the package corner include increasing the metal pad diameter opening, using bigger solder balls, increasing the solder joint standoff height, and imposing sacrificial balls at the package corner. However, these solutions are increasingly incompatible with packages that are shrinking in size to accommodate tighter ball pitch and increase Input/Output (IO) count. An innovative solution is, therefore, needed to address solder joint reliability as the market drives toward smaller package size.